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Fettercairn distillery

Fettercairn is a unique Highland Whisky with a characteristic nutty spicy house style. If you are fans of typical highland whisky, you should definately try Fettercairn!

Fettercairn Whisky

The Fettercairn whiskey distillery is located in the village of the same name near Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire in the Eastern Highlands of Scotland. The Fettercairn name (Gaelic: Fothair Chàrdain) means ‘the foot of the mountain.’

Fettercairn Distillery was founded immediately after the “Exise Act” in 1824 near Laurencekirk by Sir Alexander Ramsay as the 2nd legal distillery (after Glenlivet) in Scotland. The site was a former mill converted for the creation of whisky.

The village of Fettercairn is small and makes a pleasant impression. It is dominated by St. Martins Church. In addition to the distillery, the attraction of the village is the large archway Royal Arch or Fettercairn Arch from 1863. It was built in honor of Queen Victoria’s visit in 1861. She came to the village during a stay in Balmoral. Not far from Fettercairn, the Gladstone family’s manor house, or rather the Fasque House, can be seen but not visited

House style

How does Fettercairn Single Malt taste?The whiskies of Fettercairn taste earthy and slightly nutty with lots of caramel. The Malt is very balanced, if not super complex.

Production

How is Fettercairn Whisky produced?Fettercairn distills in four copper stills. Of these the two Wash stills have a capacity of 13,000 liters each, one Spirit Still holds up to 13,500 liters and the other up to 11,500 liters. The Mashtun is made of stainless steel and eight fermentation vats, each 26,000 litres, are made of Douglas fir. The water comes from two sources in the nearby Cairnmorn Mountains. The malted barley has been purchased externally since the sixties. The entire production process takes place in a single room.

Every year a small part of heavily peat smoky whisky is produced (generally over a single month). Fettercairn’s annually production is approx. 2.2 million liters of alcohol. Only a limited part of the production is used for single malt. There are both distillery and independent bottling variantions available. Signatory bottles are always worth looking out for. Fettercairn also makes it’s way into the Whyte & Mackay Blends. There are around 32,000 barrels on the site, some of which come from the other Whyte & MacKay distilleries.

History

The distillery was founded in 1824, one year after the Act of Exercise of 1823. The new law allowed distillation, provided that the distillers paid a small flat fee as well as alcohol taxes. Fettercairn was thus the second distillery with official distilling license, under the ownership of Sir Alexander Ramsay.

When he had to sell his land due to financial problems, the distillery went to John Gladstone (1830). In 1849 the distillery was partially damaged in a fire. The damage was quickly repaired and production started again. In 1887, a fire broke out for the second time and the distillery was badly damaged, so that reconstruction was almost impossible.

Another important change in the law was even indirectly involved Fettercairn distillery. It is taken as granted that the Spirits Act of 1860 was significantly influenced by the aspiration of the then owner Gladstone, brother of the then British Prime Minister. This Spirits Act allowed the export of the whisky and lifted the inhibitory malt tax.

In 1890 the owner John Gladstone died and his son John Robert took over the management. The distillery was able to reopen in the same year. In order to cope with the high financial costs of the reconstruction, investors had to be brought on board and so the Fettercairn Distillery Co. was founded.

The company New Fettercairn Distillery Co. took over the business in 1912 due to financial problems of the original company. Both the First World War and Prohibition in the USA caused the distillery’s financial situation to deteriorate further until it was finally shut down in 1926.

Train & McIntyre bought the distillery in 1938 and transferred the management to Associated Scottish Distillers Ltd. in 1939, which started production again in the same year. In 1966 the distillery was expanded by two more stills from two to four. In the years that followed, ownership often changed. Tomintoul-Glenlivet Distillery Co. Ltd. Fettercairn took over in 1971. These in turn were owned by Whyte & Mackay Distillers Ltd. Bought in 1973. After several acquisitions of Whyte & Mackay (for example by Lonrho 1974, by Brent Walker Group plc. 1988 and by American Brands Inc. 1990) Whyte & Mackay merged with Jim Beam Brands in 1996 to JBB Worldwide. Part of this group (which also included Fettercairn) was sold again in 2001. The new owner was the Kyndal Spirits. In 2003 the company was renamed White & Mackay. The Indian United Spirits Ltd. bought the entire portfolio in 2007. Fettercairn has a visitor centre and can be visited.

Fettercairn factsheet

Name Pronounced AKA Region Country of Origin
Fettercairn fett*er*cairn Old Fettercairn Highlands Scotland
Status Active Whisky Type Website Tours Available
Active 1824 - Present Malt Fettercairn Not Available
Manager Distiller Blender Owned by Parent Group
David Doig Whyte & Mackay

Fettercairn Timeline:

1824: Said to have been founded by Sir Alexander Ramsay, owner of Fasque Estate

1825-34: James Stewart & Co., first licensee, when dissolved

1830: Sir Alexander Ramsay sells Fasque Estate and the distillery to Sir John Gladstone, father of the future PM William Gladstone

1837: Gibb, Durie & Co.

1851: Operating

1852: James Durie

1860-90: David Durie when Fettercairn Distillery Co. Ltd. incorporated

1887: Fettercairn Distillery Co. was formed, Sir John Gladstone was chairman (1890 mentioned as well)

1887-90: Rebuilt after a fire

1890: Thomas Gladstone dies and his son John Robert takes over

1912: The company is almost bankrupt. John Gladstone buys out the investors, and starts a new company

1923: Company reconstructed twice before being sold to Holders and Ross & Coulter

1926-39: Silent

c.1939: Acquired by Associated Scottish Distilleries Ltd. (ASD), subsidiary of Train & McIntyre Ltd., themselves owned by National Distillers of America. Production restarts

....-1960s: Subsequently acquired by Tom Scott Sutherland, who continued to control the company until the 1960s

1960: Own maltings close

1966: Extended from two to four stills

1967: Stills became steamheated

1970: Sold to an Aberdeen businessman by Train & MacIntyre

1971: Purchased (by ??) the Tomintoul-Glenlivet Distillery Co. Ltd.

1973: Tomintoul-Glenlivet Distillery Co. Ltd. acquired through Scottish & Universal Investment Trust by Whyte & Mackay Distillers Ltd.

1974: Lonrho buys Whyte & Mackay Distillers Ltd.

....: Mothballed

1988: Lonrho sells (Whyte & Mackay Distillers Ltd. ??) to Brent Walker Group plc

1989: A visitor centre is opened

1990: American Brands Inc. buys Whyte & Mackay Distillers Ltd. for £160 million

1994?: Part of Whyte & Mackay Distillers Ltd.

1996: Whyte & Mackay Distillers Ltd. and Jim Beam Brands (JBB) merge to become Jim Beam Brands (JBB) Worldwide

1999: Owned by Jim Beam (JBB)

2001: Kyndal Spirits, a company formed by managers at Whyte & Mackay Distillers Ltd., buys Whyte & Mackay Distillers Ltd. from Jim Beam Brands (JBB) Worldwide

2002: The whisky undergoes a large makeover, by putting it in a new bottle and package. The name is changed as well from Old Fettercairn to Fettercairn 1824

2003: Kyndal Spirits changes its name to Whyte & Mackay Distillers Ltd.

2004: Owned by Whyte & Mackay Ltd.

2005: Open again

2007: United Spirits buys Whyte & Mackay Distillers Ltd.

Can I tour Fettercairn?

Yes Fettercairn distillery is tourable. On Trip Advisor the distillery has been rated as excellent by 0 of tours to date. This gives Fettercairn an overall rating of

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